29 Oct 2011 - Ozark Colors

I was released from the South Dakota FEMA assignment on Tuesday. I left Pierre, SD, around 4 PM. It was cold. But colder weather was on its way - they had even mentioned the dreaded "s-word" in the forecast ("snow"), so I felt like I was leaving town at just at the right time.

I drove to the eastern part of the state, and spent the evening with my cousin Curt, who had lots of information and some old photos, from my mother's mother's side of the family. I got to meet his kids, though his wife was out of town on business. Back when my grandmother, her sister, and her brother were alive, Curt made the effort to ask them questions about their family, and they responded with all the information they had. I wish I had been so smart. He and other family members have done more research and he's gotten additional information on that side of the family, since then. This was the first real information I'd gotten about my Grandma Edith's family, so I was very grateful that he was willing to take time away from his field work to share with me what he has. (He said he could afford the time because he's ahead of schedule.)

I drove from barely South Dakota (Iowa was across the river) to Independence, MO, on Thursday. I had a lovely visit at my cousin Joan's in Independence Thursday evening. I finally got to see the mantel clock she inherited from Grandpa Hansen (my dad's mother's great-grandfather). She served a family recipe cassarole that was a real treat for me - good old North Dakota comfort food. :-) And I got to meet her two daughters, and got to see three of her grandchildren again.

Then on Friday I drove from Independence, along the far western edge of Missouri and Arkansas, through the Ozark Mountains. The colors were definitely past their peak in Minnesota and South Dakota, but the further south I got, the more fall colors I saw. I got off the main road and wandered over to Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas, to see the colors up close. The whole drive was like one long scenic byway from South Dakota through Arkansas.